Lion Hearted Girl
by MadMadchen
Summary: Cressida Powell was a normal village girl with a talent for transfiguration until her village was attacked by an unknown force. What will happen when she meets the Weasley family in her search for a new home?
1. Salvation

Fred and George Weasley had just received their Hogwarts letters and were playing a muggle game called softball to practice for the places they wanted on the Quidditch team, beaters. It was then that they heard rustling in the wheat field that surrounded the Burrow.

"What do you think that was George?" Fred asked, sounding slightly frightened. They had heard of small disturbances within the wizarding world. There were rumors that it was Death Eaters, followers of You-Know-Who.

"I don't' know, but I don't trust it," George said warily.

"Maybe we should go back inside," Fred suggested. As soon as the sentence was out, George turned to walk inside and a large mass flew over his head and through the air hitting Fred squarely in the chest. He yelled out in shock and George turned to see a large golden lioness on top of his twin brother. The animal looked scared out of her mind and she was snarling. When she saw it was two small boys, not a day over eleven or twelve, she relaxed and when she relaxed, her whole body shimmered and she was no longer a lioness but a girl around their age and probably around their height with golden skin, hair, and eyes. Her hair fell to her waist and her eyes were huge as she looked at them. Plus, she was completely naked.

"Oh, you guys have no idea how long I've been looking for someone! Death Eaters burnt down my entire village, they killed my family, and He's back!" she yelled and promptly passed out, her head falling onto Fred's chest.

"Go get Mom," Fred ordered from under the unconscious girl. George nodded and ran off to the house. A few minutes later he came back with Mrs. Weasley.

"What in the world happened here?" she asked. She had one of her husband's sweaters in her arms.

"She was a lioness when she jumped on me but then she changed and said something about Death Eaters and a village," Fred said from his place under the girl.

"Well don't just lie there, help me get this on her and get her to the house," Mrs. Weasley said as she sat the girl up and slid the sweater over her head.

"Carry her in," she ordered. The boys obliged, chair carrying her between them. Once they had her in the house they carried her upstairs and into their room. They set her on one of their beds and went downstairs to wait for her with their mother, but not before they heard her mumble something.

"Thanks."


	2. Awakening

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed and had to think about how I got there. Yes, I remembered now. I had passed out on that redheaded kid. He and his brother must have brought me here. I got out of the comfortable bed and saw the large sweater that they had probably used to cover me up. My clothes were somewhere near the place I had found the boys. I would just have to go looking for them. I peeled the sweater off and changed. My body rippled, my tail bone elongating so I had a beautiful, powerful tail. My teeth elongated and pushed on my now furry lower lip. I licked my lips, I was a bit thirsty. My stomach rumbled, it had been at least two days since I had eaten. I shook my head and pushed the slightly ajar door open and headed down the winding staircase. How many people lived in this house? It was small if you just thought about the width and length, but it was quite a few stories high. The room I had woken up in looked to be on the fourth floor and as I passed the door on the third floor landing, I noticed the scent of a boy. The next door on the second floor landing smelt of a girl. I grinned as well as I could as I passed through a kitchen area. There was a woman with frizzy, curly red hair and a short, stout build making some kind of chicken dish and the two redhead boys sitting at the table. The boys jumped and the one I had jumped on gave out a small yelp before blushing deeply.

"What are you two yelping, oh hello dear," the woman said, sounding annoyed with the boys but sounded a bit scared but still very sweet when speaking to me. I chuffed at her before looking at the door and lightly knocking one of my paws on it.

"You're leaving?" she asked. I blew out a breath and shook my head quickly but still knocked on the door again.

"I think she's saying she's going out for a bit, but coming back," the boy I hadn't landed on said. The woman looked at me questioningly and I nodded my head. She smiled and opened the door for me. I grinned again before bowing my head in thanks and loping out the door. I found my clothes easily but they were covered in dirt. I grabbed them in my jaws and trotted back towards the house. Now that I looked at it from the outside I saw that it was leaning to one side a bit but it still looked sturdy enough to live in. I knocked against the door a little harder this time, making sure they could hear me. The woman opened the door and I trotted in, headed back up the stairs and put the sweater on after changing. I hurried down the stairs with my clothes in my arms.

"Ah, hello again dear, I guess we should all properly introduce ourselves. I am Molly Weasley and these are two of my sons, Fred and George Weasley. What might your name be?" Ms. Weasley asked kindly, indicating each boy as she introduced them. Fred was the one I had attacked.

"I am Cressida Powell. I was from the small village just a few miles from here. As I said before I so rudely passed out on you," I paused here and smiled apologetically at Fred, "that village has been attacked."

"Cressida, right, that's how you say it? Right, well, I've heard about a village not all that far from here, I think we even went there a few times before the family got too large to go there without incident," Ms. Weasley said, sending the twins a look. Just then, I heard two sets of footsteps racing down the stairs. I looked up and saw a young girl and a slightly older boy with the same red hair as Ms. Weasley, Fred, and George stop dead in their tracks at the base of the stairs at the sight of me probably.

"Mummy, who is that girl in Daddy's sweater?" the little girl asked cutely.

"She's someone that Fred and George found outside. She might be staying here awhile. Why don't you and your brother introduce yourselves?" Mrs. Weasley told the girl, beckoning to her.

"I'm Ginny!" the little girl said when she reached me, blushing lightly and shaking my hand.

"Hello Ginny, my name's Cressida. It's a pleasure to meet you," I said softly.

"I'm Ron," the little boy said shyly. I smiled and shook his hand, causing him to turn quite a bright shade of red.

"Hi Ron," I said smiling brightly before turning to Mrs. Weasley. "I don't mean to be rude, Mrs. Weasley, but would you mind showing me where I could wash my clothes? I kind of left them on the ground after I heard signs of people and changed."

"Oh, don't fret about that, I'll get them all cleaned up. It looks like you could use some cleaning too," she said kindly before gently taking the clothes out of my arms and putting them in a small tub of water. She waved her wand and the clothes began washing themselves. "Fred, George, show Cressida to the bathroom so she can take a bath and get herself cleaned up."

Fred and George followed their mother's orders and led me to a quaint bathroom where they showed me how to use the tub. I smiled in thanks and stripped the sweater off once again, not caring if they saw me. I heard them scurry out of the bathroom and giggled lightly to myself before slipping into the hot water. I washed myself and when I was done I wrapped myself up in a towel and dried off. I slipped the sweater back over my head and wrapped my lower half in the towel. My hair was severely matted. There was a quiet knock on the door.

"Come in," I called. Mrs. Weasley walked in.

"I brought your clothes. Oh, look at your hair. Get dressed and come down to the living room, I'll take care of it," she said kindly. I did as instructed and as I wandered into the living room, I saw a clock with eight spoons instead of hands. The numbers were replaced with 12 word sets, Home, Holidays, Work, Shopping, Quidditch, Traveling, School, Amusement, Lost, Prison, Hospital, Mortal Peril. The last four sent a chill down my spine. Such a dark thing to think of, but necessary in these times. Mrs. Weasley was sitting on an overstuffed, orange couch with a brush and pair of scissors in hand. I sat down in front of her and as she brushed my hair, we spoke about my family.

"So, how did your family pass on, again?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I had gone hunting in my animal form, just for a bit of fun, and when I came back, the town was in flames and dark masses were flying away. They didn't see me, thankfully, but when I went home to see if any of my family survived..." I trailed off. A tear ran down my cheek. No, I was done crying. I had spent the first two days after the attack crying and hunting, going from one form to the next, and sometimes getting caught somewhere between human and lion. I sucked in my cheeks, making a fish face, before puffing them out and huffing. Nothing cheers someone up more than silly faces and noises.

"I'm so sorry dear. Do you know of any extended family we need to inform?"

"My nan. She lives in Diagon Alley, above her shop. I don't really think writing a letter would be a good way to deliver the news to her. Do you have any errands to run?" I asked.

"Yes, actually. We need to go and buy school supplies for the boys. Oh, that's right, you haven't met everyone. Are you up for it? Bill and Arthur are at work though, so you'll have to wait for them. Charlie is out back and Percy is in his room, probably studying." She muttered the last couple of sentences to herself.

"Sure, I'd love to meet everyone," I smiled.


End file.
